Nadal pays tribute to beaten Murray

Rafael Nadal admitted it needed one of the best performances of his career to defeat Andy Murray 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 7-6 (8/6) in an astonishing semi-final at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

PUBLISHED: 19:04, Sat, Nov 27, 2010

Andy Murray [PA]

A packed O2 Arena crowd were on the edge of their seats for three hours and 11 minutes as the match swung this way and that before Nadal finally sealed victory on his third match point.

A jubilant Nadal was full of praise for Murray, saying on court: "I played one of the finest matches of my career. Andy came back well. In the tie-break the only thing I could do was wait for chances. I want to congratulate Andy for his attitude. He's going to win a lot of grand slams in my opinion."

The quality from both players was extremely high and it was not surprising it needed a tie-break to separate them in the opening set.

A good start to the second set was vital for the world number five but instead his level dropped and he found himself facing two break points - the first of the match. Now was the time for the Scot to show his fighting spirit - and he did, with a brave second serve saving one before a backhand winner took care of the second.

Murray knew his chance would come, and in the seventh game it did - three times over as he moved to 0-40. The bigger the moment, the better the Spaniard plays but, after saving all three break points, he gave away a fourth, and this one Murray took.

The home favourite - and he definitely was a crowd favourite now - had Nadal on the ropes but he did not press home his advantage, and in the third game of the decider the world number one exploited two poor drop shots to break Murray for the first time.

Three games later Nadal had his first match point, on the Murray serve, but for once a cheap error let the 23-year-old off and, with the Spaniard serving for the match, he took full advantage.

In a contest as dramatic as this, it was inevitable there would be a late twist - and so it proved as Murray moved to break point, which he took with a stunning backhand pass.

Nadal's wrong-footing tactics dumped Murray on his backside in the tie-break to give the top seed another match point at 5-6. Again the Scot came up with the goods but he could not force a match point of his own, and on his third chance Nadal claimed victory with a trademark forehand winner.

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